Tag: fire

Abraham Lincoln didn't hold a grudge. In 1862 when he visited General McClellan in his house to discuss strategy and was ignored by the general, Lincoln took it in stride.

Hamas is "very satisfied" with reports here that some Israelis in communities near the Gaza Strip are ready to flee their rocket-plagued towns, while...

It was a war Israel was more afraid of winning than of losing.

On the heels of what it views as a Hizbullah victory against the Jewish state, Syria is forming its own Hizbullah-like guerilla organization to...

Israeli military intelligence officers have been asked not to talk to the media without prior authorization from their superiors concerning Israel's gains in Lebanon,...

"There is just something about that little girl that I can't get out of my mind. How does she face those fire-breathing beasts?"

Some terror leaders, particularly from the Al Aksa Brigades, whose associated Fatah party scored poorly in last month's parliamentary elections, say they are planning...

Last Thursday, the 10th of Shevat, marked the fifth yahrzeit of my dear uncle, HaRav Sholom ben R. Moshe Feivel, zt"l.

When Jacob's sons Shimon and Levi butchered all the menfolk of Shechem, their father was terribly concerned that the vengeance would endanger him and his nation among the Canaanites.

Looking For A Jewish DeLayI read with great interest - even fascination - Congressman Tom DeLay's speech to the Knesset ("Be Not Afraid," Jewish Press,...

Those of you who have been following my columns will recall that, time and again, I have pointed out that one can always find a correlation between the parsha and events that unfold before our very eyes. And this past week, Abu Mazen's visit to the White House was no exception.

As the Jewish Press went to press on Tuesday night, there were numerous news reports both from Israeli and Arab sources that a cease-fire in attacks on Israel would be announced byHamas and the other terrorist groups within the next several days.

There is growing fear that the anti-religious ferment in Israel reflected in the recent startling electoral victory of Tommy Lapid's Shinui Party also spawned the horrific arson burning of five Sifrei Torah. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire, but arson seems certain. Although news coverage of the incident has been sparse, reports that have appeared have hinted that the perpetrators were not Arab terrorists, but rather anti-religious Jewish Israelis.

In the back country south of Warsaw, there
stood a small shtetl, a little Jewish village,
named Chelm. Renowned across the Pale, the
villagers of Chelm were famous for their sharp
wits, their inventive brains, and their capacity
for resolving difficult problems.

If there was any doubt that Yasir Arafat & Company consider our national tragedy as anything but an opportunity, a September 21 Associated Press dispatch should dispel it. As has been widely reported, soon after the events of September 11 Arafat announced a cease-fire with much fanfare and agreed to halt attacks against Israel. Israel promptly announced that it would ease restrictions on the movements of Palestinians and would suspend offensive operations against them. Of course, Palestinian attacks continued. Yet here is what the AP reported:

One expects to see harrowing pictures of Palestinian civilians caught in the middle of the crossfire between Israeli forces and the Palestinian Authority terrorists chosen as illustrations for stories about the intifada. These instances certainly abound, especially since the Palestinian leaders cynically place their own people in harm's way to elicit sympathy in the world media. And the media, in any event, seem hell-bent to spin the story of Palestinian provocation and Israeli response in terms of the hardships visited on Palestinian civilians. Thus, although Israeli territory is far more open to journalists than Palestinian controlled areas, it is rare that pictures of Israeli civilians under fire ever accompany any of the stories. But last Thursday, The New York Times "picked a beaut" to illustrate a story about Jews under fire in Gilo.

One of the critical points to be made about the international monitor dispute is being overlooked. No one would suggest that the mission of the monitors would be to prevent violence by force of arms. Rather, it is widely assumed that they would monitor the respective elective efforts of Israel and the Palestinians to observe a cease-fire.

AP/Eitan Hess Ashkenazi Police investigators look at one of two cars which blew up on Monday in the city of Yehud in Israel.

A 51-year-old Israeli shepherd became the latest Jewish fatality in the nine-month-
old Palestinian intifada when his body was found near Hebron Tuesday morning. The killing of Yair Har-Sinai, a father of nine children, was just one in a series of violent incidents this week that gave the lie to the notion that anything approaching a state of lowered hostilities is currently in place.

AP/Eitan Hess Ashkenazi Police investigators look at one of two cars which blew up on Monday in the city of Yehud in Israel.

A 51-year-old Israeli shepherd became the latest Jewish fatality in the nine-month-
old Palestinian intifada when his body was found near Hebron Tuesday morning. The killing of Yair Har-Sinai, a father of nine children, was just one in a series of violent incidents this week that gave the lie to the notion that anything approaching a state of lowered hostilities is currently in place.

Despite the terrible news late Monday of the driveby murders of Dan Yehudah of Chomesh and Doron Zisserman of Einav and other terrorist acts, there is the definite sense that there is an overall lessening of Palestinian violence. While we do not delude ourselves into thinking that the so-called cease fire is essentially anything other than Arafat?s latest ruse, one would have to be inhuman not to take some comfort in the fact that at least for the short run, less people will die or be maimed. And, because we think that a cease fire is in Arafat?s short term interest, we believe that one will take hold. Yet at the same time, while we savor the respite of sorts, we must also focus on the dangers that are already emerging.

As The Jewish Press is about to go to press Tuesday evening, Hamas spokesmen are still declaring that they have no intention of adhering to a cease-fire. Whether Arafat was serious or not when he declared a cease-fire the other day, the bottom line is that none is in the immediate offing. Yet one gets the sense that the Palestinians are indeed inching towards an interruption of hostilities.

Prime Minister Sharon's halting of all IDF actions against the Palestinians 'except in cases of genuine danger to human life' together with the renunciation of a cease-fire by Arafat and other Palestinian officials puts the current situation into stark relief.